Conclusion: Integration-Response: Survival and Evolution of Settlement Space for Special Communities

The preceding chapters covered a wide-ranging discussion from the large-scale agglomeration of international students who come to China alongside the wave of globalization to land-lost peasant resettlements formed under the guidance of relevant policies and from minority settlements encountering the invasion of new cultures in the process of modernization to the migrant worker boom arising in the wake of China’s economic development and system completion. Through the analysis of four typical cases that are highly unique yet consistent with the development of times, this research outlines a differentiated picture of the survival and evolution of special communities in large and medium-sized cities in China. In the process, the settlement spaces have not only brought multiple changes to urban areas but also responded to drastic social changes. Their marginal yet universal life structure has become one of the typical variables and key samples used to analyze while influencing the social spatial structure of Chinese cities. In light of this, drawing on Western migration theories and related research progress, this chapter builds on the two-way perspective of “integration-response” (The two corresponding concepts of “migrant settlements and the place of population immigration” have given rise to the two-way interactive process of integration-response. The effects and influences of the place of population immigration on the formation and evolution of migrant settlements are manifested as the “integration” process of migrants, whereas the impact and changes brought about by migrant settlements on the place of population immigration are manifested as the “response” process of the place of population immigration.) between the settlement space of special communities and the place of population inflow and proposes a two-way linkage framework for general interpretation that involves “two ends-five dimensions.” Further, following the notion of “community type-model scenario-evolution result” hypotheses and explanations are rendered for the evolution model. On this basis, multi-scenario model interpretations are provided for three types of “settlement spaces for special communities” that bear the most typical significance in China. Through the interpretations, this research sheds light on the actual condition and underlying mechanism of their survival and evolution and reveals some of the fundamental universal patterns of contemporary Chinese urban social space.